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We've improved Slashdot's video section; now you can view our video interviews, product close-ups and site visits with all the usual Slashdot options to comment, share, etc. No more walled garden! It's a work in progress -- we hope you'll check it out (Learn more about the recent updates).

epaell writes "I've been playing a little bit with time-lapse and video editing over the last week while Duty Astronomer at the CSIRO's Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA) near Narrabri in country New South Wales (Australia). Playing with video is all quite a new experience for me but I had fun putting this together and thought others may enjoy it. I've captured a number of videos of and around the telescope and attempted to highlight not only the instrument and the skies but also some of the wildlife we encounter on a daily basis while observing there. It also includes an obligatory video of cockatoos taking a hayride on one of the dishes and the frogs in the control room that are our constant companions during long observing sessions :-) I recommend switching from 360p to 1080p and setting on full-screen mode to get the full effect of the video."

The description has been updated, so you can find it in the link. But just to make life easier:
Equipment: Canon 5D Mk II (for all video and time-lapse imagery);
Canon 15mm f/2.8 Fisheye (for wide-field shots);
Canon 75-300mm f/4-5.6 (for animal scenes and zoom shots);
Canon TC80N3 Timer Remote Control... and a cheap broken tripod:-(

You wouldn't want to see the results! Generally speaking, radio telescopes produce graphs instead of pictures as their product. I work in submillimeter-wave spectroscopy, which produces a spectral plot labeled in Kelvins (Y axis) and km/second (X axis) with a spike in the middle indicating a detection. I've seen the results of an interferometry run (millimeter-wave VLBI), and it's enough to confuse me greatly. A bunch of graphs with axes labeled in units I've never heard of.

If you want to see a great nerdy movie about australian space telescopes (Specifically, Parkes), make sure you see "The Dish". One of the great australian movies, IMHO. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0205873/ [imdb.com]

It's a true storey about the "Fun" that was had when a small group of Aussies and the Parkes telescope became pivotal in the apollo 11 moon mission.

Very nice! I got a laugh out of the bird wrestling with the leaf/twig, and the frog at the end was suitably freaky. A nice blend of real-time and time-lapse work. And good choice of music. I look forward to seeing more of your work.Good luck!